RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Hits Finale Low, ‘Million Second Quiz’ Down As NBC Wins Night

There was no NFL but there was a lot of live TV last night. And not just President Barack Obama’s 15-minute Syria speech that the networks cut to at 9 PM ET. Over on Fox, it was the Season 10 finale of So You Think You Can Dance (1.4/4) from 8-10:30 PM. Interrupted by Obama, the live show saw Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy joined by guest judges Paula Abdul, Rock Of Ages director Adam Shankman and tWitch Boss. It also saw Lythgoe announce on air that SYTYCD will be back for an 11th season and a male and female winner selected. In a season of ratings ups and downs, this year’s finale was down 13% from Season 9’s ender on September 19, 2012, a finale low for the veteran dance show. SYTYCD’s previous finale low was last year, when the show faced off against Week 2 of NBC’s The Voice. Despite the new low, last night’s show was even with its September 3 airing and saw a small 2% rise in viewership to 4.3 million. Because of Obama’s speech, ratings results after 9 PM ET will likely see even greater adjustments than usual in the final numbers later today.

Meanwhile, the second night of NBC’s The Million Second Quiz(1.5/5) saw the 8 PM ET live game show raise the stakes monetarily, some changes on Winner’s Row and that faltering app of theirs function significantly better than on Night 1. Still, the Ryan Seacrest-hosted show took a downward turn, falling 12% from its September 9 debut.

Kicking off its second to last week of the season at 9:15 PM ET, America’s Got Talent (2.3/6) saw the final 12 acts take the stage at Radio City Music Hall. Salty suggestion from Howie Mandel to fellow judge Heidi Klum aside, the live two-hour show dipped 8% on Tuesday from last week. Still, AGT was the top-rated and most-watched show of the night with 9.1 million viewers. With a 2.0/6 rating, NBC was the top network among adults 18-49 and No. 1 in total viewers with 7.832 million watching. Fox was No. 2 in the key demo with a 1.3/4 rating and an all-encores CBS came in second in viewers with 7.089 million.

Besides Obama’ speech, the only other new thing on ABC on Monday was a 20/20: Crazy Stupid Luck (0.8/2) special at 10 PM. The CW’s Capture (0.4/1) was up from last week’s 0.3.